Sir Walker the Stalwart
Sir Walker Andrews "the Stalwart", more commonly known as Jon, is a knight in England. History ﻿Early History Unlike most of his peers, when Walker (Jonathon, please) was born, he was not like any of the stereotypes. He wasn’t immediately obsessed with everything knight-related, didn’t grow up wanting to be a knight, didn’t spend every waking moment being mischievous and crazy and running wild. In fact, he was a rather sickly child. Jonathon spent the first ten years of his life mostly confined inside, sitting at the window with his face pressed to the glass, wishing he was on the other side. His parents never believed he’d grow up to be anything other than a scholar, so they hired him the best tutors and the greatest intellects in England. And Jon believed them, soaking it all up like a sponge. But the doctors couldn’t figure out what was wrong with him. The child Jon suffered through a varying procession of physicians, mystics, and priests parading through his home and underwent a multitude of experiments and tests all in an attempt to make him well again. But nothing worked. Sometimes Jon would wonder if he was going to die. He would watch his older brother and sister playing outside, and wistfully wish that he could be out there with them. He ached to move and run and jump and play like normal kids, but his body wouldn’t let him. He ran out of breath quickly, his heart worked too hard, and his muscles would give out on him. At least, until he hit early teenage years. It wasn’t anything specific, but gradually he started to be able to do things. Jon came into his own. It was hard, but he was determined to do it. It was this drive that would later help him earn his moniker ‘the Stalwart’. Jonathon Andrews never gave up on a thing once he started, even as things went to shit. He would spend hours outside breathing in the fresh air and working out long unused muscles and gradually getting stronger. He spent long stretches of time riding and trotting, building up his endurance. And at fifteen years old, Jon set his sights on something he’d been told he’d never be able to become – a knight of the realm. Knighthood and Beyond At sixteen he became a page, and eighteen a squire. He became a squire to a Sir Ian Mavay, and spent four years under the older man’s tutelage training in the knightly arts. They fought in jousting tournaments and various matches, and occasionally in war for England, although Sir Ian never allowed his squire to see actual combat until he was in his final year, much to Jon’s chagrin. But then he was knighted and received his shield, and the new Sir Walker threw himself into battle for England. Despite his ardor for battle, Jon would never earn the moniker the fearless or the brave, but because of one battle in his twenty-fifth year, would earn the title of ‘the stalwart’. It was a battle in the southern reaches of the country, against a minor enemy who’s name he’s long since forgotten, but it was going badly. Jon was in command of a crew of inexperienced commoners and a band of soliders, and they were outnumbered and losing. Jon himself had been cut across the forehead and was losing blood badly, but he refused to give up. They would win this for the King and country. The commoners broke ranks and ran, and the soldiers were not far behind. But Sir Jon did not. While he eventually fell back when forced due to overwhelming numbers, he rallied the men he could find and they hid out in the woods, leading a series of guerilla raids that reeked havoc on the enemy. It took several times longer than what was projected for the battle, and it had been written it off as a lost cause. So it came as a great surprise when a bloody, muddy, and bedraggled Sir Jon Andrews marched back into England with evidence of his victory. For the next year Jon spent his time pitting himself in battle and making himself known as a champion who would never give up on a cause even if it seemed unwinnable, throwing himself into the fray even when all hope seemed lost. It was in the midst of the summer when Jon was traveling across England to a major jousting tournament when he stopped in a small town in England to make an appearance to bolster the reputation of the Crown and knights and blah blah blah. Jon hated the peacocking he was forced into. He’d rather be on the battlefield. When he returned to London, he was presented a young boy, and his friends urged him heavily to take on the boy as a squire. Jon, needless to say, was dubious. He’d never had a squire before, fearing to take one into the blood and gore he usually found himself involved in, and this frail and fragile looking one seemed like an even worse idea than the usual squire. But something about the boy tugged on his heartstrings. He seemed so lost looking, that Jon couldn’t help relating to the boy he’d been as a child when no one seemed to know what to do with him. He accepted Cassidy as a squire. (And what kind of unmanly name was that? He was going to call the boy Cass.) He had no idea the shenanigans that were going to ensue with this decision. To put it in a word, Cass was awful. He rode well, but any weapon in his hands seemed more likely to injure the boy himself than anyone else. And it frustrates Jon at times, leading him to be harder on the boy than he really should, but he is going to war with the English forces, and he has to take the boy along lest he be left behind alone. But that wasn’t the worst of it. What was, was discovering that apparently, he was a sodomist at heart. Jon couldn’t believe it the first time he found himself looking at Cass in the light of being attracted to him, and instead went out to find a willing woman to lose himself in. But it didn’t end, and it’s only serving to make Jon hate himself a little more each day. How could be interested in a man? Let alone one so small, fragile and everything he’d hoped to outgrow as a child? Who was also nine years his junior? It rang hollowly of inappropriate to him. Especially, although this was a minor point, since Cass was his new squire. But Jon is slowly resigning himself to the issue, even if he’s said nothing to Cass on the subject. Personality Like anyone, Jon’s personality is entirely a byproduct of his childhood. Having spent the first ten years of his life cooped up inside and having to watch his siblings play outside, he cannot abide to be constrained. It doesn’t matter how, physically, emotionally, mentally, it doesn’t matter. Jon’s well aware that’s where his claustrophobia springs from. It’s also where his passionate hatred of court functions comes from. Who wants to dress up all fancy and be paraded around like a peacock, put on display for all the nubile young women and their mothers to scheme over for marriage? Not Walker Jonathon Renholder, no sir. He’d rather be out on that motherfucking battlefield, up to his knees in blood and gore, fighting a losing battle for survival. It’s what he excels at after all. And it is. He’s reckless and rash, often to a fault, and more likely to run at trouble than away from it. He has this tendency to charge blindly into a situation without properly taking stock of what’s going on, and the physicians are not really his biggest fans. They’re tired of trying to take care of him. He doesn’t show it, but the years of this are catching up with him. When he thinks no one’s watching, Jon has a bit of a limp from a bum right knee. It hasn’t impeded his ability to be a knight yet. But what it has done has had him start drinking more. Jon thinks he’s good at holding it, but he really isn’t. But despite his proclivity for trouble, there’s no one more steadfast or loyal once he’s committed to something. It’s how he earned his moniker. He never gives up, no matter what the personal cost. It makes him an excellent friend to have when you’re in a tight spot. Jon doesn’t believe in abandoning his friends or allies when it comes down to it, because it’s just not in him to. His problem just becomes that he expects too much of people, and it leads him to be overly strict with people, especially his squire. It’s because he’s overly strict with himself, from his ridiculous exercise regime to his eating habits. It’s another holdover from his past as a sickly child. Jon lives in constant fear that whatever plagued him is going to come back, so attempts to stave it off through exhaustive exercise and eating as healthy as he knows how to. One thing about himself that Jon rarely shows to the world is the length and breadth of his book learning and intelligence. As a sickly child, his parents expected him to grow up to be a scholar and therefore paid England’s best tutors for their son to give him the best chance at being the best. He had language tutors, history tutors, music tutors, science tutors, and any other kind of tutors you could imagine. He was fluent in five languages before his twelfth birthday, seven by his fifteenth. Even after he started gaining his strength and becoming able to do things, Jon didn’t lose his voracious appetite for language. He really couldn’t have cared less about the rest of it, but he honestly enjoyed language. And he gets a huge kick out of using various languages generally at inappropriate times. Particularly when it’s something he would really prefer to get out of. Relationships ﻿Faline Cassidy Mason Cass is Jon's squire, but he's come to be more than that, much to the man's chargin. They met when Cassidy came to London looking to escape what she'd run away from, and propagating a story about looking to meet a knight to take her on as a squire. Jon's friends though it would be hilarious to set the fragile looking young man up as Jon's squire, and pushed him to take the boy on. Reluctanty, Jon agreed. He felt sorry for the boy, having memories of his own time a small and sickly looking youth. But lately, he's come to view Cass as more than his squire, and it's horrifying him. He doesn't want to be a sodomist, and let alone for someone twelve years his junior. He hasn't told a soul, but sometimes he finds himself acting awkward around the boy. What he hasn't figured out is that Cassidy is actually a girl, and nineteen rather than seventeen. He hasn't looked close enough, being so upset at starting to fall in love with a boy. And the boy (girl?) went and got himself killed. It was the first battle of the Islands War, and Cass wasn't ready. Jon has since taken to blaming himself, and has turned to drinking even more so than usual. ﻿Sir Leofrick the Bold/Captain Baynard Hill Leo and Baynard are perhaps Jon's best and most trusted friends. They've known each other for a very long time, and when in town together can most often be found drinking at some tavern out of the general way of things. Baynard's and Jon's relationship is a little more complicated than that of Leo and Jon however. Both have a few unresolved issues towards one another that have never been addressed, and it occasionally finds its way into their friendship. Jon is jealous of Baynard at times for the freedom his lower social class gives him, as well the fact that he'll never have to give up doing what he loves to run an estate. And he has nothing but the highest respect for the man, having worked his way up into what he is today. But sometimes they start drunken fights with each other, and although Jon doesn't know it, he accidently seduced away the girl Baynard was interested in, once upon a time. Facts *Will sneak out of any and all court functions he's forced into *Heir apparent to the decent sized estate of Michaelmus near Liverpool *Claustraphobic *Deathly afraid of sickness and disabilty *Therefore is something of a health nut Category:The English Court Category:Knights